Rangers have a hand on the trophy

Barring a couple of 20-0 drubbings from their nearest rivals, Blenheim’s Rangers AFC men’s football team are destined to be crowned Nelson Pines Premiership Division One champions for the second time in three seasons, following a convincing 2-0 win against Fresh Choice Richmond at the weekend.

The win, Rangers’ 11th of the season, took them six points clear of second-placed Nelson Suburbs FC, who have a game in hand over the leaders but also hold a far inferior goal difference going into their final two games.

‘‘We’ve got a 40-plus goal difference on the second team. Who can still catch us on points, but they’ll have to win both of their last two games by about 20 goals each to catch us – which I think isn’t really possible,’’ said Rangers player-coach Tore Waechter.

‘‘Though it’s not official [being league winners], I think it will have to be rigged or a bit of match fixing going on if we were not to go on and win the title from here,’’ Waechter said.

Waechter said it was an exciting time for Marlborough football, and winning the league had been a monumental effort from the whole squad.

‘‘The league was our main focus this season. You want to prove you’re the best team over the course of a whole season, so yeah we’re pretty stoked to get that done.

‘‘We’ve just got such a high calibre of players here, and we’ve been playing the best footy I think that I’ve seen here, which is fantastic.

‘‘But overall it’s probably been one of the best seasons I’ve been involved in, and probably the best Marlborough team I’ve been involved in, in all the years I’ve been playing here, which is awesome,’’ Waechter said.

Waechter’s father, and team manager, Wolfie Waechter agreed with his son that they would not be caught so close to the finish line.

‘‘We’ve already captured the title. There’s no doubt about it, you can’t catch that goal difference, you can’t score that many goals in one game, and we’re not going to throw the game on Saturday.

‘‘We’ll still try to get a good squad over there to play and hopefully get a point or win the game. We’ll do our best, that’s for sure,’’ the manager said.

Waechter echoed his son’s sentiments on the strength of his squad, and said it was this depth that had allowed the team to keep driving forward in the face of Covid, illness, and injuries.

‘‘We had a number of people falling sick to Covid or the flu over the last few months, but fortunately it wasn’t everyone at the same time.

‘‘We were able to compensate because we’ve had a reasonably large squad, and we still have a development team playing in the local league that we can draw players up from if needed. But other than that we’ve managed quite well over the last few months.

‘‘The squad overall is so strong and balanced that there could be several candidates for player of the season, it was just a real team effort that got us to the top, and it’s not down to just one superstar in the team.’’

Rangers AFC play their final game of the season on Saturday against Sheehan Financial FC Nelson. The game is due to be held in Nelson, but Waechter said it was possible the game could be switched to Blenheim with the team being crowned champions in front of a home crowd.

‘‘We’re actually trying to get the game held over here. We’re talking to the other team, because our grounds are a lot better than theirs at the moment [due to heavy rain]. Hopefully, if we do win they will present us with the trophy on Saturday,’’ Waechter said.